discovering
My son and I visited Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana, yesterday for the first time and were left speechless.
There’s not much one can say when surrounded by the beauty of nature in a place where people gathered 2,182 years ago. It kind of takes your breath away.
It was not what we expected at all.
These mounds are nothing like the Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site we visited in Georgia several years ago in that these Indiana mounds were carved into the ground to create a sunken, circular or figure-eight-shaped ditch. Mounds State Park contains some of the finest examples of earthwork and mound building in the state, according to the park’s website. The mounds were built by the Adena and Hopewell cultures around 160 B.C. ~ that’s where the 2,182 years comes from ~ and were used for ceremonies, celebrations and observations of solstices, equinoxes and other stellar events. The signs on site state a tomb was excavated from the site, so we do know there were at least a few burials there.
I love to explore the world ~ and exploring our own “backyards” is even more important. Learning about where we come from, where we live, and the people who came before helps shape and inform us and is so incredibly important.
Standing above the circular ditch, it’s hard to believe that humans dug this huge area with likely not much more than sticks. The trees tower above, and we learned the state is slowly removing these stately giants in an effort to return the land to what it would have looked like at the time the Adena and Hopewell people were there. The trees now inhibit the view of the open sky. So to offer visitors an idea of how the area was used to chart the seasons and the passing of time, the trees are being removed.
You can see some of the felled trees, massive in size and gathered along one of the trails.
It’s easy to feel small next to them.
It’s easy to feel small in nature.
But it’s also not uncommon to feel bigger than ever.
At least for me, being in the middle of the woods is calming and at the same time energizing. I want to do big things. I want to hug trees and save the planet and conquer all my fears. I want to lie in the grass and gaze at the stars. I want to do it all.
I am inspired by these stories of great successes and unbelievable feats. I am hungry to learn more about the native people who lived and loved this land before us.
There are no mistakes, a friend always tells me. So it seems absolutely perfect that a week from today, we will celebrate and honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day, honoring those who first shaped and built this nation.
I look forward to learning more and to surrounding myself with the beauty and vastness of this land. I hope you will find time to stop and think of those who came before us as well.
